The US Presidential election 2016 is nearing its finale.

US elections: The Presidential debates garnered more attention for Donald Trump’s unique antics and Hillary Clinton’s meme-worthy expressions than the actual policies. (Reuters)

The US Presidential election 2016 is nearing its finale. The much-publicised race to succeed Barack Obama at the White House has seen three Presidential debates; debates which garnered more attention for Donald Trump’s unique antics and Hillary Clinton’s meme-worthy expressions than the actual policies. Trump, who had started his campaign with the promise of building a wall across the Mexican border to prevent immigrants, went on making some of the most controversial and even ridiculous of statements of any Presidential candidate till date. Right before the second Presidential debate, a leaked footage involving Trump making lewd statements against women was revealed which ultimately led to an apologetic video from the billionaire.Trump’s wife, Melania Trump’s speech was also criticised earlier for being an exact copy of the First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention in 2008.

Meanwhile, Democrat Hillary Clinton, former First Lady and Secretary of State, who has had the open support of President Barack Obama and most of US media, did not exactly sit back on her haunches as she carried on a feisty campaign, but she definitely must have enjoyed watching the Trump campaign implode. But even as her worries were being mitigated to a large extent by the Republican candidate himself, Hillary was in trouble for the use of a private server to send e-mails during her stint as Secretary of State. Although Hillary claimed that the emails weren’t classified, the FBI deemed that they were. The latest setback that is really hurting her on this front is that the FBI has re-opened this case after her aide’s laptop yielded some more ‘incriminating’ emails.Her health issues also came to light after she collapsed at the 9/11 memorial.

Although the polls haven’t been very close, they certainly have been inching that way in the last few days.

But when does the US election start? Who is ahead in the polls? When will the new President be announced? How and where do you follow it?

Here is everything you need to know about the US elections:

1.When will the next US President be announced?

The winning candidate must get at least 270 electoral college votes to become the next President. following another complicated process involving the electoral collegium, the winner of the US Presidential debate will finally be announced on January 6, 2017.

The next US President and the commander-in-Chief of the world’s largest armed forces will officially be inaugurated and take reign of the White House on January 20, 2017. The next US President will take his oath on the inauguration day during noon.

2.When is the US Presidential election 2016?

America will go for polls on the election day, which is November 8, 2016; a Tuesday. The first polls are to be closed at around 5:30 Indian Standard Time and will be covered by various news channels as late as 10:30 pm

3. Who are the candidates for US Presidential election 2016?

To understand this, we must note down that there are two major parties in the US elections; The Republican Party and the Democratic Party.

The Republican party:

This is the Grand Old Party of the United States of America. The Republicans are the famous right wing candidates of the US. To make their policies simpler, this party goes in the direction of anti- gun control, anti-immigration, anti-abortion and the likes of it. They remain the favour of a small government and individual liberty. They appeal to the Southern states and rural areas in general, which presents their major vote base. Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon are well known Republican Presidents. well, so was Abraham Lincoln, but then, those were the good times.

The Republican nominee for this year is Donald J Trump.

Trump, is many things, a businessman, a reality tv star a politician, a narcissistic man accused of repeated sexual assault among other things. He is known for sniffing too much during the US Presidential debates, promising to make a wall and calling Hillary Clinton a terrible woman, unfit for President as she “lacks stamina”.

The Democratic Party:

The Democrats are the centre- leaning mildly towards left party. Again to make things simpler; they are normally in favour of using heavy taxation for paying off off government projects and other welfare schemes. This is a party that wants gun-control and is pro-universal healthcare. The majority of their vote base belongs in the big cities and in the North Of America. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are some of the most famous Presidents for the Democrats.

The Democratic nominee is Hillary Rodham Clinton:

Former First Lady, Secretary of State. Clinton too has her fair share of issues, involving the issue of private emails for sending classified information and then lying about it. Although, in her defence, “she is technologically challenged”. Well, that is not a plausible excuse for the commander in chief of the largest army in the world. However, she gets away this year, due to the Trump phenomena.

4.What is the election day process for US Presidential election 2016?

The votes are to be cast on November 8, Tuesday. This is how it works:

The candidate who has the most number of votes in each state ultimately becomes the candidate that the state is to support for President. It all comes down to a system known as the electoral college where 538 electors chose the winner of the Presidential election. In fact, only 270 of them are needed to form a majority. Each state has a certain umber of these electors, which is based on the population of the state. But all these states do not get the same say. For instance, the state of California had 10 times the population of Connecticut. So when people vote for their favourite candidates, they actually vote for one of these electors who is pledged to one candidate or the other.